Staff for House Republicans will be briefed Thursday afternoon on how to repeal Obamacare using special budget reconciliation rules that could allow them ditch big parts of the healthcare law next year.
House Budget Committee staffers will explain at a 1:30 p.m. meeting how the budget reconciliation process works, lay out how it can be used on the Affordable Care Act and answer questions, according to an invitation sent to Republicans on Monday.
GOP leaders have said they intend to hold votes on repealing Obamacare early next year, using special budgeting rules allowing them to bypass Senate Democrats. Passing a budget reconciliation bill requires just a simple majority instead of 60 votes in the Senate, where Republicans will hold 52 seats next year.
The Budget Committee, which will head up much of the work of repealing Obamacare via budget reconciliation, also sent members a “reconciliation primer” and a memo late last week explaining how the complicated process works.
First, the House and Senate budget committees will develop a 2017 budget resolution that both chambers could pass in early January. Once a budget resolution is agreed to, the three House committees with jurisdiction over Obamacare would submit detailed repeal proposals to the budget committee, which would put the proposals together in one bill to be passed by the House.
The Senate could then pass the House bill and send it to President-elect Trump, once he takes office Jan. 20.
“The process to achieve this goal is underway now,” the memo to House Republicans says.
